ECON 422 is a course in labor economics whose content varies considerably depending on the interest of the instructor. This semester the course is organized around "personnel economics". Topics that will be covered include:

• features of the labor contract, and the incentives that these contracts provide to firms as well as to workers;
• the need for firms to learn about workers (and the incentives this sometimes provides to include workers to "reveal" what they know about themselves);
• the interplay between productivity and pay over a worker's career;
• decisions by workers and by firms to initiate and to terminate the employment relationship.

Along the way, we will touch on a number of interesting policy issues:

• how the financing of unemployment benefits can affect layoffs;
• stock options for managers and workers;
• pensions and retirement decisions;
• providing incentives for public school teachers;
• recruiting and retention in the military.